Derry town councilors form committee to tackle blight

DERRY — Town councilors have taken the first steps toward addressing vacant properties in town and formulating an anti-blight ordinance.

Councilors voted unanimously Tuesday night to form a seven-member blight subcommittee to begin exploring the process for passing an ordinance.

The first task of the newly formed subcommittee will be to determine whether the town can legally pass such an ordinance, said Council Chairman Mark Osborne.

Osborne recently set a goal of establishing an anti-blight ordinance this year. At the start of the discussion on the ordinance, he cited a newspaper article from 2008 that mentioned Derry councilors were to consider a blight ordinance.

.“We’ve had some great ideas since 2008, and I just think we bring them to fruition to see, number one, if they’re possible, and if they are, number two, let’s get to work on them.”

The subcommittee will include Councilors Phyllis Katsakiores and Thomas Cardon...Cardon is very familiar with the downtown area, having walked it a number of times to talk to residents. Katskiores has been discussing ways to help improve downtown for 10 years.

“It’s long overdue, and I think it’s a great idea,” Katsakiores said.

The subcommittee will also include Derry Fire Chief George Klauber, Planning Director George Sioras, Code Enforcement Director Robert Mackey, a member of Code Enforcement and a member of the Downtown Derry Committee...